All-Star balloting results

Just a few minutes ago, the first ballot results of All-Star voting came out and Andre Ethier ranks fourth among outfielders, while Matt Kemp is fifth in the National League. The latest can be found here.

Dodger fans support our players incredibly year after year when it comes to voting and now would be a great time to vote up to 25 times, if you haven’t already done so.

As for those of you who read this post on Inside the Dodgers (as opposed to the Dodgers’ facebook page, where this links), please forgive the delay in new posts last week. Been out of town for several days at a close friends’ wedding, which slowed down the posts but we should be back to normal again this week and in fact, I’ll be back out on the road this trip, where I look forward to meeting up with Jamie Ramsay, who runs Better off Red, the Reds’ version of Inside the Dodgers. He does a great job with the blog (better than us, these days!) so hopefully we’ll find a way to get all of you to chat with each other on both sites.

Hi’Ya Trumom!! Here’s the latest Phew line:
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………………..Avg/Obp/Slg/Ops/VORP
Phew………..265/328/306/634/+2.2
Loweeney…249/293/326/619/-4.0
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Another good game or two by Loweeney and he could pass the Phew line and lose the Loweeney tag.

I hope he does. Right now 1st base and Catcher are our worst performing positions.
The first base position has only produced 26 runs(runs + rbi – HR). The same at Catcher.
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Both among the worst 3 in baseball.
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Its just UNACCEPTABLE!!!

So I read that payroll was met today. Again McCheap had to borrow by using “creative means”, specifically giving discounts on the fees charged and by offering luxury suite tickets for free to his backers. Those taking advantage of these creative discounts were not named. If they were named I know they would be boycotted by the true blue faithful, I can only speculate that FOX broadcasting might have recieved benefit of these discounts. STOP giving McCheap ANY MONEY. He and his wife have proven they are not responsible with previous money given to them, and incapable of providing proper stewardship to bring the Los Angeles Dodgers to a championship. Stop the insanity.

Kind of looks like Jim Tracy has come back to Earth as Rockies genius manager. Never doubted he had mediocrity running through his veins…just check out his Dodger tenure. Speaking of mediocrity, look at Ned–and then look at what Kevin Towers has done with the D-Backs since last September. Give Gibby credit, but give a lot to Towers, too.
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Is Frank still here? Even the FRONT PAGE of the L.A. Times is noting the fan boycott and franchise misery. GO AWAY, Frank, and take your ex wife and unethical salary-robbing kids with you.

Lots of teams put out a better on field product with less money than our current lineup. When funds are tight(for legitimate reasons or because of the McCourts over indulgent lifestyle), you need a GM that has a clue and some baseball saavy. Ned has neither!!!

I’m encouraged to see the growing number of EMPTY SEATS and the media attention this is now getting. They even call it the fans’ boycott. It’s obviously making Frank dig his own hole, from which he may never climb out. Keep on borrowing from the future income stream and keep discounting those future revenues, and sooner rather than later you’re going to hit that wall that you won’t be able to climb. You have NO FUTURE as an owner, so SELL THE TEAM you all-despised bastard, leave town, drop dead, take all who follow you with you (especially Ned, Rawitch, and the entire coaching and medical staff). The city hates your guts, the country hates your guts; you ought to be serving time behind bars for the rest of your life, which hopefully is very short.
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I feel better now.

I think most of us forgot about Thames. Nothing surprising here; Sands has options. As I have said many times, Sands has shown something but not enough to force management’s hands into DFA’ing a veteran. Besides, they can’t DFA a player on the DL so we just have to wait and see what happens. Perhaps someone else comes up with a magical injury.

As for attendance figures, I took a quick look this morning at the box scores from yesterday’s games and noticed most teams had signifcantly lower ticket sold figures vs. capacity. Not sure what this means other than to notice that many teams are down in attendance. Only one team had a sellout and that was in Oakland with the Yankees in town. I do believe the opening day problem and general dislike of the McCourts has something to do with a decline in attendance but clearly other teams are having problems selling tickets as well. The big difference as everyone knows is the Dodgers have never had a problem selling tickets, even when teams were not very good. How much is due to the McCourt factor is anyone’s guess.

I think the fans disgust with the McCourts is the main reason for the drop in attendance. Like you said, the Dodgers have never had a problem selling tickets before. And all the other reasons for not attending were present. Including violent acts in the stadium parking lot. (Sept 03 man shot and killed, April 09 man stabbed) The only new variable in the equation is the McCourts.
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Through Sunday, attendance was down 7,013 per game, 196,367 for the season. In a tough economy, nearly half the Major League teams have suffered attendance drops. But nothing like the Dodgers’ slide. On average, league attendance has fallen 302. The Angels, for example, are down 576 fans per game.

I like Sands I know the average isn’t there yet but it will come with more time I would HATE to see thames take playing time from him, if were not going anywhere this season we should atleast let the future like sands get experience rather then worthless pvls who won’t be here this time next year

I think the dwindling attendance is a combination of a sub-par team that doesn’t score, the mccourt boycott, the recession, and less offense throughout baseball as we move towards the end of the steroid era

Jhall, I do understand the Dodgers attendance slide is higher than the average decline. I am sure our good friend Mr. Selig is well aware of this. Unlike many of you, I don’t want to see the Dodgers continue to lose just so fewer and fewer people attend games. However, I am not surprised at the decline and clearly this decline (and what may still come) is being felt upstairs at Dodger Stadium. My concern is how long MLB will put up with this and how long will it take before Frank McCourt finally runs out of options for cash. You have to admit, this guy is resourceful and does not seem to care that he is just making things worse by his (and her) shenanigans. So I suppose the only thing left for fans is to vote with their dollars and while I am not willing to do that quite yet, I do understand why others would.

Yep, all he is doing is borrowing against the future revenues of this team and devaluing it. Exactly why Jamie wants it to be sold now while it still has a high value. I guess we just have to wait until June 15th. I assume that will be the next time Bud will get an easy chance to take over the team if McScum doesn’t meet payroll. From the sounds of how he made this payroll, his options are drying up quickly.

I did too although I must admit I have never been too keen on the idea of the fans voting. There are names on the All Star ballot of players who some might question whether they belong on a major league roster let alone an all star team.

Not cool that a little while ago they asked William and Deuce dad to leave batting practice. They gave season tix in the left field pavilion. Realize that this is the only stadium that the pavilion ate not connected. I think everyone should be allowed. U no longer have the center field gate open where pavilion fans could go. Not cool.

Ditto!!! Nice job tonight by Lilly!!! You ever notice how much better our pitchers do when we get them a big early lead? It’s alot easier to pitch when you’re not worried about one mistake losing you the game.

Now under 2.9 million in projected 2011 attendance🙂
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Game 30’s attendance (2010): 37,944
Today’s attendance courtesy of trumom : 31,473
Greater than last year = 5 / Less than last year = 24
13th straight game of negative attendance
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Games less than 30,000 this season – 5
Games less than 30,000 in 2005 – 2010: none
Last game was 9/14/2004 – 29,704
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Lowest attended game of the year: Game 8 – 27,439
Largest single game drop: Game 18 (55,662 – 28,419 = 27,243)
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2010 attendance (30 games) – 1,286,533 (42,884 average)
2011 attendance (30 games) – 1,072,444 (35,748 average) #9 in MLB
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Drop of 214,089 total
Average drop of 7136
Extrapolated for 81 games – 578,040
Projected 2011 final attendance – 2,895,599
2010’s final attendance – 3,562,318 (#3 in MLB)
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Next game’s (31) attendance in 2010 – 44,876

Once upon a time there was a comedian named George Carlin. You might remember him. If you do, you might remember this (and it’s from memory, so forgive me if I’m a little off):
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Here are some words that have never been said before: “Hand me that piano.” “Do what you want to the girl, but leave me alone”
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To which we can add as words never before said: “Gee, if only our first baseman could have an OBP and OPS like Juan Pierre!”

Quote To Note: “Tremendous. He’s a Gold Glover. But you have to be an everyday guy to get the Gold Glove. My chest always sticks out when he makes a catch. He made a great sliding catch the other day, and I was like, ‘Ehhh, that’s a four.’ He’s that good. That’s dad talking. But I love what be brings to the table. Sometimes you just have to be who you are. Defensively, he brings it every day. He played for me his last year at San Diego State. I knew he was good. When he was a kid, he shagged at Qualcomm (Stadium) and we’d do drills out there. But I didn’t know he was that good. He’s a top-of-the-line defender. He can play all three spots and play all three equally.”—Tony Gwynn, Sr. on the defense of his son, Tony Jr.

Keep those SEATS EMPTY, Dodger fans!
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Tony Gwynn, Jr. doesn’t belong in the major leagues no matter how much respect we may have for his old man. The Padres realized it, but we don’t. That’s because our own system of player development has been rendered bankrupt by giving up those prospects that anybody else wanted in order to secure some PVL’s. Can’t wait to have all these coaches and front office worthless bastards GONE.

Messagebear…I hate to write this. But my son just got promoted from Kindergarten (today) and for his gift he wants to go see the Dodgers play tonight. So yes, we will be going today, but just because my son (who is only 6) requested. Baseball is his passion. He just finished Little League about a week ago and he already misses the sport. Dodgers is his favorite team and he did get GREAT grades at school. I hate contributing to Frank funds, but at this time I don’t think he will be receiving funds. The players will! I wish the Dodgers lot’s of luck and I hope Frank sales the team ASAP (hopefully before I get there). And I am still praying!

I am so delighted to hear about your son’s benchmark event, and I think this would be a well deserved and great occasion for him to see a Dodger game. I hope the Dodgers endure as one of his lifelong pleasures, as I’m sure they have been for so many of us older fans. Please wish him my personal best, and my congratulations to you for having such a joy in your life.

Hear, hear bear! Well and excellently said! I wish I had written it. The only thing I would add is to treasure every moment they are small. It doesn’t seem like it while you’re raising them, but that time doesn’t last very long.

That is wonderful Rosie!!! Being close to the kindergarten age group, it is so fun to watch them grow their first year of school. Our kinders graduated today… so cute!!!!
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My son is graduating from high school tonight, and they are just kindergarteners in 17/18 year old bodies, just not as cute – LOL!!!!! (jk) I am very proud of him too🙂

How in the hell can he pitches 2 days in a row after throwing 23 pitches and giving up 6 runs the prior night? Yes, he did much better today but still that is crazy to let someone pitch back to back games giving up 6 runs but the Cubs do have an off tomorrow.

Hi’Ya Beav!! Yep!! These last 3 games will just be a blip on a rather blank radar when all is said and done. I see where Gwynns games played streak ended last night. Sorry dude. Don’t worry though, Kemps is still going. LOL!!!!!!!

The team “catching fire” usually consists of winning two, maybe even three games in a row.
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If Ned was smart, which he’s not, he’d be looking to deal Furcal & Blake here in the next few weeks along with Kuroda, Lilly, Garland, Blimpo, and Carroll for some decent prospects.

Well you said it, if Ned were smart. Hell, there’s a whole lot of bafoons out there that think this team actually has a freaking shot at winning the division. I know the division is not very good, but, it ain’t that bad.

LMAO!!! Not surprising when you actually look at the lineup!! They’ve just had a couple of good days against some very bad pitching. We’re gonna see more of this than what we’ve seen the last few days. JMO

Assuming Lindblom comes in for Garland, wouldn’t it have made more sense to let him make his debut yesterday, say in the 9th up by 6 runs? Theoretically down by 3, you still have a chance, just in case Lindblom comes in and stinks up te joint.

If Lindblom doesn’t make it, there’s another one you can chalk up to Ned being stupid. Kid was a very good reliever in college, was sensational that one spring training, then they tried to convert him into a starter and fucked him all up.

Whatever happened to working the count to run the starters pitch count up? When they started to abandon that, which I think coincides with after the all-star break last year, this team hasn’t scored worth a crap ever since.

I think that we’re going to be accelerating these numbers for a while. We won’t have another game from 2010 that had less than 40,000 until Game 53.
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Imagine how much lower they’d be if they were actually reflecting the a-t-t-e-n-d-a-n-c-e at the game.
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Game 31’s attendance (2010): 44,876
Today’s attendance courtesy of trumom : 36,975
Greater than last year = 5 / Less than last year = 25
14th straight game of negative attendance
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Games less than 30,000 this season – 5
Games less than 30,000 in 2005 – 2010: none
Last game was 9/14/2004 – 29,704
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Lowest attended game of the year: Game 8 – 27,439
Largest single game drop: Game 18 (55,662 – 28,419 = 27,243)
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2010 attendance (31 games) – 1,331,409 (42,949 average)
2011 attendance (31 games) – 1,109,419 (35,788 average) #9 in MLB
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Drop of 221,990 total
Average drop of 7161
Extrapolated for 81 games – 580,038
Projected 2011 final attendance – 2,898,804
2010’s final attendance – 3,562,318 (#3 in MLB)
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Next game’s (32) attendance in 2010 – 48,046

MESSAGEBEAR….Thanks for your thoughful wishes. He had a great time, a little dissapointed at the final score. But he was glad that 3 of his (for now) favorite players actually got to play…Carroll, Furcal & Ethier. He was mad at the fact that our pitchers was being called with alot of balls and the other pitcher had more strikes…LOL It was funny. But I had to explain to him that our pitcher sucked in a nice and kiddy way. He wanted for Mr. Bobblehead to change pitchers. He is starting to scream at the calls just like the grownups do…LOL He thinks he knows it all. He was able to see Nancy B. from where we were seating, thank God for her bright green shirt she was wearing. (Happy Wedding Anniversary Nancy & Hubby!)
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JOSH…the sound quality at the stadium was not as good as other times. I’m sure that due to cut-backs we are using 1 speaker instead of the surround sound. LOL The best part was NO LONG LINES (in a way it was sad) but glad I did not takes 1 hour to park, or miss a whole inning just to get a drink or miss 2 innings for using the restroom.

I was at last night’s game and noticed a lot of empty seats for a bobblehead giveaway. My guess is there might have been close to 30,000 in attendance. Not sure what Jimenez’ problems have been so far this season but he looked unhittable. He had the hitters off balance and hitting a lot of balls of the end of the bat. I know some will say big deal, look to whom he was pitching but these were the same guys who had no trouble against other Rockies pitchers the two previous games. Dodger pitchers may have been a bit anxious but they knew Urbaldo was throwing strike making working the count more difficult. The best at bat was Miles pinch hitting for Garland. He fouled of a bunch of pitches before finally getting a single. Other than that the rest of the Dodger hitters looked helpless.

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